Good news for Sellers of clothing, accessories, backpacks and handbags, with lower FBA fees coming next month…
From May 15th 2025, Amazon is making a small but potentially significant update to the way it calculates FBA fees for clothing & accessories and backpacks & handbags – welcome news for many Sellers in these categories.
Here’s what you need to know…
What’s Changing?
At the moment, fulfilment fees are based on the greater of your product’s unit weight or its dimensional weight – meaning that lighter but bulkier items (like handbags, for example) can incur higher fees than expected.
But, as of 15 May 2025, that’s changing for Clothing & Accessories and Backpacks & Handbags:
- FBA fees will be calculated using parcel size tier + unit weight only.
- Dimensional weight will no longer apply to these categories — which means lower FBA fees for most items in this space.
- Seven new parcel size tiers are being introduced to allow for more accurate fee calculations.
Other Fee News: A win on Returns too
And it doesn’t end there – Amazon will also waive returns processing fees for backpacks and handbags, even for those sold after the February 1st 2025 returns fee introduction.
That means:
- If your products fall into those categories, you’ll get reimbursements automatically, with no action required.
- This exemption applies going forward too, removing an extra margin pressure for high-return rate products.
Where do these changes apply?
The new FBA fee structure will apply across:
- Local and Pan-EU FBA
- European Fulfilment Network
- Remote Fulfilment between the UK and EU
- Ships in Product Packaging (SIPP) programme
- In Amazon’s UK, DE, FR, IT and ES stores
Note: There’s no change to fees for Low-Price FBA items or Oversize products.
What should Brands do now?
If you’re selling in these categories, our advice is:
- Recalculate your profit margins post-May 15th – you might have more room to manoeuvre than before.
- Revisit your product strategy, because items that weren’t commercially viable under the old fee structure might now be worth scaling.
- Optimise your packaging to hit the best possible parcel size tier – small changes here could yield strong savings at scale.
The Bottom Line
In an environment where costs have continued to rise, it’s refreshing to see a fee update that genuinely favours Sellers — particularly those in high-return categories or dealing with bulky-but-lightweight SKUs.
For brands in Fashion, Accessories and Lifestyle, this could be just the margin-boosting opportunity you need.
Love a little help to boost your margins, optimise your FBA performance or scale your profitability across new markets?
We’re ready when you are – get in touch today.